Snarking at Greenblatt's Marlowe. But also, Cynthia Harnett doing (so I am assured) an extremely accurate, lovely depiction of a fifteenth-century boy enjoying writing in Latin. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/breaking-b...

New blog post: some recent reading reviewed, from Booker-shortlisted historical fiction to 70s SF to a forthcoming literary novella drlauratisdall.wordpress.com/2025/09/15/r... #booksky

This is a reflection on Greenblatt's Marlowe biography, and a medievalist's take on his presentation of grammar school Latin. I do think he misunderstands some of the joy that might underpin Marlowe's plays. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/breaking-b...

Do any lovely medievalists know of good medieval descriptions of hangovers? Thank you!

Here are some gorgeous snippets from historical garden writers about bulbs, and flower colours, and general loveliness that might make Monday morning feel a bit better. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/a-sullen-o...

If you are choosing spring bulbs, you might like this post of mine, where I am choosing them while leaning over John Parkinson's shoulder as he writes Paradisi in Sole in 1629. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/a-sullen-o...

This is me writing about time passing, and glimpses of the past in the garden. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/the-passin...

Have you pre-ordered your copy yet?

Here's a little meditation on time passing, and history, and the circles of memory-within-memory you get in an old house and an old garden. Also, because school term just started, it's about how achingly fast time goes. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/the-passin...

Have you seen that our project has had some news coverage over the last few weeks? We've rounded the stories up here: thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/posts/news/2...

TWO MORE SIGNATURES and we'll have 450 - every voice counts, you don't have to be an academic or involved with universities in any way <3

I am so excited about this, and doesn't it look *gorgeous*?!

Gosh, what a surprise, who would have thought.

Another heads up for this post, where I'm thinking through the reasons why we're so quick to believe the worst about Anne Boleyn's last pregnancy. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/a-formless...

This is horrific. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

The life of a novelist is, on 999 days out of 1000, not a remotely chic one. But then there’s that thousandth day, when you take up residence in a succession of bougie coffee shops with one task only: to do the final checks on your copy edited manuscript before it goes for typesetting.

These reviews make my Saturday morning. Which probably reflects terribly on my life, but that's ok.

What responsibilities do writers of historical fiction have, do you think? I'm thinking about Philippa Gregory's take on Anne Boleyn's last pregnancy. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/a-formless...

This post is about Anne Boleyn, and the strange fascination we have with the reproductive lives of Henry's wives (despite the fact he was over 40 when married to all of them but Catherine of Aragon, which may well be explanation enough). lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/a-formless...

New post on Anne Boleyn, 'monstrous' pregnancy, and our own modern culpabilities. Please read with care; contains discussion of foetal nonviability and pregnancy loss. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/a-formless...

I want to write a new blogpost, academic pals! What’s your best advice for sustaining your motivation as an early career scholar, post PhD, without institutional affiliation? How can you feel supported in carrying on with your work? And what can those of us lucky enough to have jobs do to help?

I am reading Lucy Mangan's Bookish, which is as lovely as I expected, but with the odd side effect of making me really nostalgic for being an undergraduate reading English. I want to go and do it all again.

Ooh! This looks so exciting.

I may be here more for Carissa and Elenor than the dick chat.

I'm very chilled, very laid-back, no fangirling here ... WAIT YOU GUYS HELEN CASTOR LIKED MY WRITING! 😀 It's this piece btw: lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/apples-apr...

So excited about this - *absolutely* an overlooked interaction!

Why do we love gossipy history so much? And what do apples and apricots, and a French gardener, have to do with Anne Boleyn? lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/apples-apr...

What was your first introduction to the history of Anne Boleyn/Elizabeth I? And did you know how dramatically Anne's pregnancy craving for apples worked its way into later retellings of that bit of history? My post here: lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/apples-apr...

I'm writing about early modern pregnancy cravings and their surprising potential to shape the narrative, historical or fictional. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/apples-apr...

I love Laura's work so much.

This looks wonderful!

Here's my article out in Exemplaria. I am so honoured, humbled and excited to have been part of such a wonderful special issue. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

What does it mean, to be 'really' English? This is my post about why a little bit of learing can lead you into dangerously reactionary interpretations of history. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/thorny-iss...

This looks great!

Here I am having a little rant anti-academic rhetoric and the democratization of (bad) education. If you are a medievalist, it does come with a bit of a health warning. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/thorny-iss...

Looking forward to reading this one!

Our anthology call-out for writers in the North of England is open. We're delighted to have received a few submissions already! There's plenty of time to submit until the deadline at the end of September, so get scribbling - we'd love to read your words.

I've just seen some more lovely reviews of the Andy Goldsworthy exhibition, courtesy of @mathewlyons.bsky.social, so I am going to share this piece about his fabulous Hanging Stones, again. Just because it makes me happy. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/missed-mem...

#MedievalSky #EarlyModern If you're working on any aspect of the life-cycle (eg birth, marriage, baptism, leaving home, death, childbearing, etc) and want to present at the Life Cycles Seminar at IHR I'd be keen to hear from you! Echo chambers are never good, so it's always worth casting the net.

I've been researching infertility histories since 2019 - and I am very tired of seeing the same myths being used over and over to silence women. If you're able to read, or share, that would be wonderful. I really don't think I am alone in feeling like this? lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/bruising-i...

I seem to be on a roll with the fertility-related posts. This one is about expectations of women's emotions and caring/carelessness in fertility treatment. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/bruising-i...

Latest post. I think it is so important to challenge the myth that grief for pregnancy loss is a modern invention. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/she-had-a-...

Why do we keep using the past as a stick to beat women with? In this post I'm looking at the myth that women (and men!) didn't recognise, or grieve for, pregnancy loss. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/she-had-a-...

Increasingly I think a major function of “masculinity” IS its crisis — a vehicle for the dominant & dominating group to justify focusing their social attentions primarily on themselves

'In the past women would have thought it was just a heavy period - why are you upset?'. My new post is tackling one of my absolute pet hates in fake history: the idea that grief for early pregnancy loss is something new. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/she-had-a-...

THURSDAY! Looking forward to seeing my fellow #Gummies then!

Lovely to see Alice Thornton and @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social getting some love in the press. 'A female Samuel Pepys' Thornton is a bit less self-obsessed! www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Daybreak in the wreck of Dogger. Gulls drifting over the slowly rising sea. Seals hauled-out on sandbanks, bleached ribs of stranded whales. Dunlin and knot, swarming the mudflats, armies of silt-spearing godwit and whaup. Last day to order 'Eely' with £2 off longbarrowpress.com/current-publ...

I sensed 'The Book of Bogs' would look good, but I didn't think it would look THIS good... My piece is about a walk Nic and I took on the Carneddau above Bethesda, and Clare Shaw and Anna Chilvers helped shape it into something quite lovely. @littletollerbooks.bsky.social tinyurl.com/Bookofbogs

I really enjoyed writing this one. Thomas Cromwell, and Hilary Mantel's brilliant drawing-together of Charters of Christ, and Dante, and Thomas Browne, and maybe an echo of Eliot and John Stowe in there too. lucyallengoss.substack.com/p/mudlarking...